AP INVESTIGATION: Nuclear Smugglers Sought Terrorist Buyers

In the backwaters of Eastern Europe, authorities working with the FBI have interrupted four attempts in the past five years by gangs with
suspected Russian connections that sought to sell radioactive material to Middle Eastern extremists, The Associated Press has learned. The latest
known case came in February this year, when a smuggler offered a huge cache of deadly cesium — enough to contaminate several city blocks — and
specifically sought a buyer from the Islamic State group.

Disturbing news. That's our biggest fear right, Middle Eastern brown terrorists getting their hands on nuclear materials to make a dirty bomb? For
some reason Al Qaeda never got the job done but the up and coming ISIS clearly has the funds to buy nuclear materials from these Russian gangstas.
ISIS already has 88 pounds of uranium (not enriched), which can't be turned into a dirty bomb in its current state but still could be worked on to
make it so.

As far as scary brown Muslim go, ISIS seems to take the cake so if any of these groups would or could do this it's them. That said, the timing of this
article is suspect since Russia joining the Syrian fight has been making headlines recently. Not that I doubt the information provided (well, maybe a
little

Natural uranium is more radioactive than the depleted uranium people complain about contaminating neighborhoods in the ME, so couldn't it be made into
a dirty bomb? Just because it's not as 'hot' as cesium or something?

I'm sure the MSM will spin this as Russia supporting ISIS in some way. Of course those who actually investigate it know that isn't true, a couple of
gangsters are not representative of the Russian government, but a lot of people just accept what is told to them on the news without investigating
further.

Where is ISIS getting all of their funds from? How did they get uranium? And how do some dirty desert crawlers expect to actually build a bomb? A lot
of unanswered questions about ISIS in my opinion. They're obviously hired to do a job and work for the highest bidder, only question is who is the
highest bidder?

More than likely, the Cesium in question is CS137. It is a bit more radioactive than naturally occurring Uranium isotopes, but it has a MUCH shorter
half-life, and the Uranium is far more toxic on a purely biological level. It could be utilized in a radiological bomb if refined into a powder.
Though, the reason that DU is of such concern is because of the massive amounts that were dispersed into the environment in combat zones. Even if it
is at a lower activity level than natural Uranium ores, natural Uranium does not generally occur in huge quantities on the surface of the planet, and
especially not in aerosolized particles.

ISIS is getting the majority of their funding from seizing assets in areas they overtake, selling the resources from those areas (oil, for instance,
not to mention massive amounts of military equipment), and sympathetic people directly or indirectly donating it to them. On the surface, at least. I
honestly don't think there's much support coming from regional governments, because they pretty much all have an interest in not seeing ISIS succeed.
Except perchance Iraq and Afghanistan. The Taliban is aligned along fairly similar lines as ISIS, and the Iraqi 'government' is struggling to keep the
Shia Muslim hold on what's left of their nation. So I wouldn't think they'd be above bribery. Though I'm not sure the Islamic State would accept it.
Iran wants to remain the only real Muslim power in the region, so it's not in their interests to allow ISIS to succeed in their grand Caliphate. And
the Saudis are seen as being infidels because they are basically Wahabists. So ISIS has no desire to align with or accept aid from them either. And
they reciprocate the sentiment quite clearly.

In the US, at least, there's a fairly distinct difference between 'brown' (generally middle-eastern born or descended) and 'black' (US born African
American members of the Nation of Islam) Muslims. And then, of course, there's African Muslims. It's a mud pit to try and discuss.
While using accurate descriptive terminology has fallen out of favor because it may describe race, it is also against burgeoning social norms to
ignore race. Either choice is considered a racist action, so pick your poison.

Never said it was appropriate or inappropriate. Just clarifying the term a bit. And also pointing out the built-in hypocrisy in discussing race, not
discussing race, or eating a sandwich, as it occurs in the US.

Oh, and just to be technical, 'black negro', while highly offensive, is also highly redundant. The word 'negro' is Spanish for 'black', for one. Two,
the still technically accurate, though woefully outdated moniker for that particular racial derivation is Negroid. The other two are Caucasoid
and Mongoloid.
While is don't necessarily agree with the usage, I did understand that the original intent of 'brown Muslim' was to specify a subset of Muslims from a
particular region. Not to cast aspersions about the shade of their epidermis.

And, lastly, if they (as in all the particular types of Muslims you mentioned) are all the same, why are the particular Muslims we are discussing
completely disowned by all other Muslims. ISIS certainly claims to be acting in the name of Allah, but nothing in their doctrine seems to indicate
they have any understanding whatsoever of His divine will.

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